The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for recycling fuel from a removable fuel receptacle such as an engine fuel filter.
Engine fuel filters must be routinely changed to insure proper function of the associated engine. These devices tend to hold significant quantities of residual fuel. These filters need to be removed and replaced or replenished periodically to ensure proper engine performance.
Additionally, the removed used fuel filter can contain several ounces of fuel. The fuel in contained in the removed filter is, typically, mixed with water and/or other contaminating materials. If this material is discarded indiscriminately, it can cause environmental degradation. Although the contaminated material can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner, with the increasing concerns of energy conservation, it is financially and environmentally prudent to recycle the filter fuel as well as the filter material itself. All too often, significant quantities of the fuel contained in an engine fuel filter remain in the filter, creating disposal problems. It would be advantageous if the spent filter could be drained in an efficient and environmentally safe manner to facilitate reuse of the fuel and recycle or environmentally sound disposal of the filter housing.
It should also be noted that, due to the typical volume of some fuel filters, the newly positioned replacement or replenished filter should be charged with a suitable volume of fuel before resuming normal engine operations in order to achieve maximum engine efficiency and fuel economy can be achieved in the optimum amount of time. Thus, fuel filter changes can also necessitate the additional step of charging the fuel filter with a volume of fuel after the filter is in position on the vehicle.